Auburn QB Jackson Arnold is reportedly not attending the Manning Passing Academy this summer. ESPN's Chris Low reported that he'll instead spend the time familiarizing himself with Hugh Freeze, Derrick Nix, Kent Austin's playbook, and his Tigers teammates.
"QB Jackson Arnold wants to spend every minute he can with his (Auburn) WRs this summer, so much so that he doesn’t plan to attend the Manning Passing Academy. Arnold was honored to be invited, but Hugh Freeze said Arnold didn’t want to miss key time building chemistry," Low reported.
Thus far, Freeze has been highly complimentary of Arnold's arm strength and ability to improvise and navigate the pocket with his legs.
“Jackson Arnold, very optimistic. He’s got a calm demeanor and confidence. He understands ball. He has a high football IQ. Arm strength is good. There’s a reason he was Gatorade Player of the Year coming out of high school,” Freeze said in March, per AL.com.
“I think he needed a (restart) to regain some confidence. I think he’s doing that at a fast, fast pace. His decision-making has been on point. I think he’s throwing a very accurate ball. Really impressed with his pocket presence when the traffic is around him, where his eyes are. They stay downfield. He uses his legs when he needs to.”
Arnold giving Auburn this much buy-in could either be a sign of him being all-in on his 2025 goal to have a come-back year along with the Tigers, or a sign he needs more time with coaches to get up to speed.
We'll go with the first one.
All indications are that Arnold will win the starting job, and at this point, Deuce Knight's spring performance could be boosting him up the depth chart to primary backup ahead of Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels.